Hello, new here

[Catspjamas]

Hi, I'm Joni, I've just joined and am excited I have found this forum.  I'm a novice at sewing and make most of my stuff on a machine, straight stitch only!  If I had to do it by hand, I'd be afraid it would fall apart when I wore it.  I have some questions about a new dress I'm going to make.  I portray a nurse and this will be my "official" nurse's dress.  It's a day dress, the pattern is Lauging Moon's #111.  I'm thinking of using navy blue light weight wool, but don't think me stupid, I have no idea what to look for.  When I find wool, it's too heavy (and expensive) when I find something that's the right weight (and price) it isn't 100% wool, it's usually a wool blend.  And is wool hard to sew?  I've never sewn using wool.  My first attempt at this dress with be with a solid cotton, is broadcloth ok?  Below is the dress, if I did it right:



I think I messed up when I registered, I thought I'd be able to enter my display name after I logged in, but my login name is showing as my display name.

Joni Everhart

[Chessa_Swing]

Hello!  Welcome to the forum! I believe I have seen you on another forum...
Thats a pretty dress!  I wouldn't reccomend doing it in a solid cotton though.  Its not found very often in the period as it fades unevenly.  The end result is a tie-dye effect... 

[RizziOskoui]

Yay! You made it  now we just have to get Miss Topping and Ma to come over to the party hehe

I'm going to try and convert Ma tomorrow morning, we're getting together to do a duct tape dressform for me before the semester begins. Unless she's already lurking around here........? 

[Trish Hasenmueller]

Hello, Joni.  You'll find reasonably priced and lightweight wool fabrics on Fashion Fabrics Club on the Internet.  There are lots of other sources, but I've been happy with them.  Search for tropical wool and be careful to look for 100% wool.  http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/

Wool is a dream to sew...really.  In my experience, it's easy to handle.

Trish Hasenmueller

[debi casey]

Hi Joni. Another source for wool would be Hancocks if you have one locally.  The ones around here carry the B Black & Sons 100% worsted wool.  Right now my store has them for 40% the list $12.97 price. I just look at the ends of the bolts for their label and choose only their wools.  Another "name" to search online sites for would be "suiting" weight; this is the light weight wools used for suits which good be great for a dress.

Ohh, when pressing use a pressing cloth or press on the wrong side as you might leave shining spots on your fabric.

Debi

[Elidh]

Hi Joni,

I'm new here, too -  and, coincidentally, I have chosen the same LM pattern as my first dress to sew!! I haven't bought fabric for it yet, but had planned to use a light 100% wool, as it could be worn year- round.  I haven't decided on a color yet - something dark, I guess.   Where will you be portraying a nurse?  How fun!!!

[bevinmacrae]

I second the Fashion fabric's club recccomendation, but I would order on the phone as they havn't the best track record with customer service, and don't swatch! It will take forever! Just trust that the colors on your browser are correct and place your order (over the phone) It will take 3 weeks to ship, but it's worth it! Navy blue sounds wonderful and if you get it in a tropical weight, I think you could wear it in the summer too. Tropcial weight wool from them is very thin, you can see light clearly through it! Youa re going to love working with it too. Wool is so durable and easy. It doesn't distort, or do bad things. It goes where you want and washing is easy. I think you are making a very wise and authentic choice in getting a wool dress earlier in your reenacting career. Have fun and ask lots of questions! These ladies are experts!
~bevin

[Elizabeth]

I'll admit, I'm a bit biased against navy, because there was a huge "navy, burgundy, forest green" surge going on when I entered the hobby, Lo, These Many Years Ago.   Now, if it were a really deep MIDNIGHT blue, that would be very serviceable as a dress in potentially grimey/gorey situations, as would browns, blacks, greens, and other deep colors--even reds, though that may be too exciting for a convelescent hospital. LOL  Nursing advisors recommended plain, serviceable colors--meaning, no place for frilly ruchings and light pink.  That doesn't rule out every speck of trim, but does mean you'll want to select flat trims that don't dangle or protrude, so they won't hedge up your work.

Joni, I'd encourage you to make up the bodice muslin, but then to jump right to wool for the finished dress, and skip a cotton incarnation entirely.  You'll want to adapt the instructions a bit, and use the skirt measuring/balancing technique in the free gauging or petticoat article on the main site--you may find this saves fabric, as you won't be wearing the dress over hoops.  You'll want to hem everything to a "working" length--between the top of your foot and the ankle--and it won't be a dress that then converts to use with a hoop.

Look for wools labelled "summer" or "tropical" weight.  If the bolt by some miracle has ounces per yard noted, look for things in the 6oz to 10oz weights.  On-line is likely your best bet for finding a good wool; few chain stores ever stock wools, and those that do have some irrational fear about 100% wools.

Wool is generally very easy to work with when sewing.  You just want to be a little delicate about pressing with steam, as you can selectively shrink areas of your dress that way!  Using no-steam settings and a pressing cloth (a piece of well-washed muslin) for most things, and a teensy, teensy bit of steam and a pressing cloth to do things like set hems, will work well for you.  If you're not confident with buttonholes on a test sample, hooks and eyes for a closure would be absolutely appropriate.

[Elidh]

I am writing this in the "dresses" section, because it applies to this working dress we're discussing.  How many and what type of petticoats would be worn underneath? 

[Elizabeth]

Since the forum covers everything from 1840-1865, that answer will be different depending on what precise era you're working with.

Prior to the re-advent of the hoop in about 56-57, you'd wear combinations of skirt supporting petticoats that might go from three to even seven layers.  Regular gathered petticoats, corded petticoats, tucked and flounced petticoats, crinoline (horsehair) petticoats--there are many, many variations for the pre-hoop era.

Post-hoop, it's fairly normal to use a petticoat for personal modesty, then the cage, then one, two, or more petticoats over the cage to soften it, then the dress.  If a woman in the 60s is not wearing a hoop due to her working situation, she's likely to be wearing two or more full-gathered petticoats, similiar to her skirt circumferences, and nicely starched for body.

[Catspjamas]

Now, if it were a really deep MIDNIGHT blue, that would be very serviceable as a dress in potentially grimey/gorey situations, as would browns, blacks, greens, and other deep colors--even reds,

Joni, I'd encourage you to make up the bodice muslin, but then to jump right to wool for the finished dress, and skip a cotton incarnation entirely. 

This leads into 2 questions I've been thinking about all day.  How much does your own personal likes/dislikes come into play?  I have read Dorethea Dix's recommendations on what nurses should wear and brown was mentioned, but I dislike brown, and I've worn so much black in my life (to slim down a full figure) that I now don't wear it.  I am making a mourning outfit, but that is an exception.  So my two thoughts on my nurses uniform were navy (or really dark blue) and charcoal grey.  When I decide to make this dress again as a regular day dress, could I use a print? I've heard mention of lavender dresses, but what about purple (darker than lavender)?

The other question pertains to the bodice muslin, I've seen it mentioned making a muslin version first.  But then what do you do with it?  I'm only familar with the offwhite/white muslin.  My thinking for making the dress first out of a solid color cotton would be that I'd have a dress I could wear.

As for trim I was planning on doing the dress pretty much as it is pictured, except not such a big neck tie.

Joni Everhart

[Catspjamas]

If you're not confident with buttonholes on a test sample, hooks and eyes for a closure would be absolutely appropriate.

I've tried the hooks and eyes before and they wouldn't stay hooked, so I replaced them with snaps, because I was told that was ok, but now I don't see much mention of snaps being used on a bodice.  I can do button holes on a machine, (without a buttonholer foot)  how hard is it by hand?  I wouldn't think it would be that hard, just time consuming.  What's the trick for using hooks and eyes and getting them to stay hooked, are smaller better or larger, or is it a placement issue?

Joni Everhart

[BarbaraSmith]

Hi Joni!

Individual hooks and eyes are a nightmare for me. I've heard two things:

1) Make thread bars instead of using the metal eyes
2) Flip flop the hook and eyes. Instead of having all hooks on one side, go 1 hook, 1 eye, etc. and do this on both sides, so you're hooking back and forth.

See if this helps.

Snaps are a no-no. Get rid of them. :-))))

LOL,
B.

[Pam Robles]

Hi, Joni. 

Handmade buttonholes aren't difficult, they just take practice to get the stitches even.  It's the same stitch you'd use to make the thread bars Barbara mentioned but through the fabric (obvioiusly) rather than around strands of thread.

[BarbaraSmith]

And as for color... Well, I wear some pretty non-period correct colors because I like them. I'm the burgundy sofa from h-e-double-hockey-sticks.  I have way too much "port" and "claret" in my wardrobe. 

So, a little of both. You know you have to wear black for mourning. And if you want to wear a nurse's uniform, you'd better wear the colors that were dictated. But for your own personal wardrobe, you have more flexibility in color choice. Just don't make any double-pink calico gowns, like I did.  Recently discovered this is a child's fabric, not for an adult.

I have a baby blue wash dress I never would have chosen on my own, but it was a gift, and I've worn it more than any other gown I own. I recently decided to go into the weird, garish land and bought some pumpkin colored calico and burnt orange wool. Nothing I wear in modern life, but it was calling me. Actually, I'm thinking of turning my modern wardrobe orange...  It's really red. Like every sweater I own is RED. Need some other choices. 

Wander around the fabric store and see what calls out to you. Swatch it if you can, or just buy an 1/8 yard or so, and take it home and let it hang out on the sofa until it starts talking. If the fabric doesn't talk, try drowning it in the washer until it comes up for air and starts talking.  Then dry it and iron it real hard, and I guarantee it will sing like a canary. 

LOL,
B.

[Joanna Jones]

Welcome!!  A muslin  (or "toile") won't be something you wear; it will be your new, custom-fitted pattern that you can use again and again.  Cut your pattern out on muslin or any other plain cotton fabric you have (I have sometimes used gingham because the lines help me keep things straight).  Fit it to you just like you are making the bodice for real, and get the fit perfect.  Once you have this done, you may want to cut out fresh pieces that don't have all the stray markings and trimmed off parts.  This is your new pattern, perfecty fitted to you and able to be used as a base every time you make a new dress.  I have a muslin that fits so well I don't bother to try on the bodice until it's almost done because I know it will fit fine.

Ditto on the plain cotton - everyday cotton dresses were almost always prints, not plain.  Plain cotton fades unevenly and shows dirt and grease quickly.  Plain wool is commoly seen, though.

[Denise Butler]

Not all nurses were under the thumb of Dragon Dix. Mother Bickerdyke and Clara Barton operated on their own; then there were the Sisters of Charity, and other groups and independents. Your final dress material and color choice is really predicated on the role you are playing. If you are one of the Dragon's nurses, you are limited to her dictates - and are as free to grumble about said dictates (and the dictator) as her nurses did. If you are an independent, your choices open up more, depending on your role's social and economic background.

[Elizabeth]

Nursing clothing needs to be practical, based on the nursing duties one is expected to fulfill.  If that duty is spoon-feeding, book-reading, and letter-writing, the fabrics options are quite a bit more broad than those who will be rebandaging the healing wounds of convalescing men, or treating those recovering from typhus or cholera, and all the attendant effluence.  In a soldier's rest home (non-front-line nursing, but very important to the effort), a print wash dress may be the ideal thing (and, you're also more likely to be just a regular woman, boarding soldiers in spare spaces in your home with the help of family members and near neighbors).  If I recall correctly, Lousia May Alcott does detail the clothing she takes with her to nurse in a hospital in Washington... pick up a copy of Hospital Sketches, and several hankies, because it's a weeper in several spots.

Just to reiterate what Joanna said about the muslin version: the first one is your fitting test.  You'll likely go through two or more versions in muslin before the fit is really YOU.  Then, it becomes your new, permanent, adjusted-to-you pattern, and you cut your dress from it.  I do like to trace it off into a permanent copy, and make up a new test muslin from that adjusted permanent pattern for any new dress project--just to make sure it still fits well.  Then, I use that fabric version as the pattern pieces on my fashion fabric, and as my dress lining.

It's far more cost effective to "spend" $2 in plain white cloth to test the bodice fit, than to make a whole dress, then remake it multiple times.   Once you have the muslin down, if you want to make a test dress before using your wool, choose a nice colorful cotton print and lightly gather where you'd otherwise dart, and you'll have an excellent "everyday working class" dress.

On hooks--part of this has to do with just enough bodice tension, but if you're making sure to sew the hook down at the roundy bits, AND a few stitches at the base of the actual hook, and sewing the eyes down at the roundy bits and a bit up each leg, so there's just enough metal exposed to "hook" the hook, then the next thing is to very lightly squash the hook itself, to the point that it holds well, but you can still unhook it.